PORT CLINTON - For the 57th year, Trinity United Methodist Church is hosting a weekly Open Air Church where visitors can worship and hear a sermon from the comfort of their cars. The service is held every Sunday at 8 a.m. in the parking lot of Mon Ami Restaurant.

“It began at the drive-in 57 years ago and got moved to the parking lot of Mon Ami,” said the Rev. Bruce Batchelor-Glader, who leads the services at the open air church.

The church started as a means to minister to the many vacationers and seasonal residents who arrive in town each summer.

“They knew a lot of people were coming up for the summer, and they wanted an opportunity to minister to those people for the season,” Batchelor-Glader said. “They wanted a service where they could be informal.”

Batchelor-Glader said the church’s theme is “Come in Your Car. Stay as You Are.”

“Little people can be in their pajamas. You can bring your dog or cat,” he said. “People who are housebound and can’t sit in a church for an hour can be comfortable in their car. The service lasts about 45 minutes. We move it along.”

The service often begins with a “Toot Salute.” Batchelor-Glader asks questions like, “Who is here for the first time?” or, “who was in the water yesterday?” and visitors answer by tooting their horns.

“People sometimes toot after special music or during a sermon,” he said.

Hymns are sung to music played by an organist in a mobile wagon, and ushers distribute communion on the first Sunday each month.

“We have self-serve communion cups. They have grape juice at the bottom and a wafer at the top. You peel back the seal to take the wafer and peel back the foil to take the juice,” Batchelor-Glader said.

Each week, about 140 people in 90 cars attend the service. On Fourth of July weekend, about 180 people were there.

“Back in the early days at the drive-in – that’s when everyone went to church – 600 people came to worship. That shows you how times have changed,” Batchelor-Glader said.

Only about a quarter of the weekly attendees are members of Trinity United Methodist Church, where Batchelor-Glader serves as pastor.

“It is clearly a service for the people who are here during the summer. Some have churches back home, and some attend other churches locally but like to come to the open air church in the summer,” he said.

One of those is Walt Churchill, owner of Walt Churchill’s Markets in Perrysburg and Maumee. He often travels to Port Clinton from his Perrysburg home with his dog, Sid, on Sundays.

“I always put down on the attendance card, ‘Walt and Sid,’” he said. “I’ve been going there a number of years. I have a boat at the Catawba Island Club, and I’m typically there on Sundays in the summertime. I enjoy the messages, and I like the music. In general, it’s a good, healthy experience and a religious environment.”

Batchelor-Glader keeps track of attendance each week, and he has found that many are repeat visitors year after year.

“There are a lot of names I recognize every summer. The majority of people come regularly. Many are here on vacation, but many have cottages and are here for the summer,” he said. “That’s the fun thing about the church — the chance to worship ecumenically with people from all over the place.”

The Open Air Church will hold services every Sunday at 8 a.m. through the week after Labor Day at Mon Ami, 3845 W. Wine Cellar Road in Port Clinton. The Trinity Women’s group holds a bake sale on the last Sunday of every month, and the church will hold a Doughnut Day social on Labor Day.

“The good people at Mon Ami let me bring doughnuts and coffee to their chalet. It gives me the opportunity to meet people face to face,” Batchelor-Glader said.